Pushcart educator named CNN Hero of the Year

(CNN) -- Efren Peñaflorida, who started a "pushcart classroom" in the Philippines to bring education to poor children as an alternative to gang membership, has been named the 2009 CNN Hero of the Year.




CNN's Anderson Cooper revealed Peñaflorida's selection at the conclusion of the third-annual "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute" at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.



The gala event, taped before an audience of 3,000, premiered on Thanksgiving night on the global networks of CNN.



The broadcast honored the top 10 CNN Heroes of 2009 and featured performances by Grammy Award-winning artist Carrie Underwood, R&B crooner Maxwell and British pop sensation Leona Lewis.



Peñaflorida, who will receive $100,000 to continue his work with the Dynamic Teen Company, was selected after seven weeks of online voting at CNN.com. More than 2.75 million votes were cast.







Gallery: CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute



Video: CNN Hero of the Year named "Our planet is filled with heroes, young and old, rich and poor, man, woman of different colors, shapes and sizes. We are one great tapestry," Peñaflorida said upon accepting the honor. "Each person has a hidden hero within, you just have to look inside you and search it in your heart, and be the hero to the next one in need.



"So to each and every person inside this theater and for those who are watching at home, the hero in you is waiting to be unleashed. Serve, serve well, serve others above yourself and be happy to serve. As I always tell to my co-volunteers ... you are the change that you dream, as I am the change that I dream, and collectively we are the change that this world needs to be."



The top 10 CNN Heroes, chosen by a blue-ribbon panel from an initial pool of more than 9,000 viewer nominations, were each honored with a documentary tribute and introduced by a celebrity presenter. Each of the top 10 Heroes receives $25,000.



"With the recognition they receive on our stage," said Cooper, who hosted the tribute, "they'll be able to help thousands and thousands of people. Through their efforts, lives will be changed and lives will be saved."



Underwood performed an original orchestral arrangement of "Change" from her best-selling album, "Play On."



Serve, serve well, serve others above yourself and be happy to serve.



--Efren Penaflorida, CNN Hero of the Year

Maxwell sang "Help Somebody" from his first album in eight years, 'BLACKsummers'night.'



Lewis, a three-time Grammy nominee, performed "Happy," from her second album, "Echo."



See photos of all the performers and honorees



All three performances echoed the spirit of the CNN Heroes campaign, which salutes everyday people whose extraordinary accomplishments are making a difference in their communities and beyond.



Presenters included Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Neil Patrick Harris, Pierce Brosnan, Dwayne Johnson, Eva Mendes, Randy Jackson, Greg Kinnear, George Lopez and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.



ON CNN TV

Watch "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute" this weekend at the following times on the global networks of CNN:



CNN/US

(all times ET)

Friday: 12 a.m., 3 a.m.

Saturday: 8 p.m., 11 p.m.

Sunday: 2 a.m., 8 & 11 p.m.

Monday: 2 a.m.



CNN INTERNATIONAL

(all times GMT)

Friday: 2000

Saturday: 1400



CNN EN ESPANOL

(all times ET)

Friday: 12 a.m., 3 a.m.

Saturday: 8 p.m., 11 p.m.

Sunday: 2 a.m., 8 & 11 p.m.

Monday: 2 a.m.

RELATED TOPICS

Hollywood

Nicole Kidman

Carrie Underwood

"This record number of nominations is further evidence of the momentum CNN Heroes has built in just a few short years," said Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide.



"Viewers have been engaged by these stories of inspiration and accomplishment beyond our expectations. It is truly an honor to be able to introduce the CNN Heroes to our global audience every year."



Again this year, producer/director Joel Gallen served as executive producer of "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute." Among his credits, Gallen produced telethon events supporting victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina, winning an Emmy Award and a Peabody Award for "America: A Tribute to Heroes."



The Kodak Theatre is best known as the first permanent home of the Academy Awards.



Here are the 2009 Top 10 CNN Heroes:



Brad Blauser

Brad Blauser is providing hope and mobility to disabled children and their families in Iraq. Since 2005, his Wheelchairs for Iraqi Kids program has distributed nearly 650 free pediatric wheelchairs to children in need.

Roy Foster

Army veteran Roy Foster started Stand Down House to help veterans struggling with addiction and homelessness in Florida. Since 2000, his program has provided life-changing services to nearly 900 veterans.
Doc Hendley

Bartender Doc Hendley is providing clean water to communities worldwide. Through creative fundraising, his nonprofit Wine to Water has brought sustainable water systems to 25,000 people in five countries.


Andrea Ivory

Breast cancer survivor Andrea Ivory is bringing early detection to the doorsteps of uninsured women. With mobile mammography vans, her group has provided more than 500 free screenings in Miami, Florida.

Betty Makoni

Zimbabwe native Betty Makoni founded the Girl Child Network to provide a haven for young victims of sexual abuse. The organization has rescued more than 35,000 girls since 2001.

Jorge Munoz

School bus driver Jorge Munoz is helping hungry New Yorkers make it through tough times. Since 2004, he has handed out more than 70,000 meals from his mobile soup kitchen in Queens -- for free.

Efren Peñaflorida

Efren Peñaflorida gives Filipino youth an alternative to gang membership through education. His Dynamic Teen Company's 10,000 members have taught basic reading and writing to 1,500 kids living in the slums.


Budi Soehardi

Budi Soehardi founded a children's home in one of the poorest areas of Indonesia. Today, Roslin Orphanage in West Timor provides food, shelter and education to more than 45 children.

Derrick Tabb

Derrick Tabb started The Roots of Music to give young people an alternative to New Orleans' streets. His music education program provides free tutoring, instruments and music instruction to more than 100 students.

Jordan Thomas

Jordan Thomas, 20, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, lost both of his legs in a boating accident in 2005. Since then, his Jordan Thomas Foundation has raised more than $400,000 to provide prosthetics for children in need.

The 12 Scams of Christmas

We're about to enter the holiday shopping season headlong, and while vigilance is always important when you're shopping online, scams and such always seem to get worse during the colder months of the year.

As a helpful reminder, our friends at McAfee put together this handy guide to the 12 most common online scams to which the unsuspecting fall prey to at this time of year. Their list follows, with some commentary...
Scam I: Charity Phishing Scams - Be Careful Who You Give To

Many an email purports to come from a legit charity but actually links to a fake web site designed to steal donations, credit card information, and the identities of donors.

Scam II: Fake Invoices from Delivery Services to Steal Your Money

During the holidays, cybercriminals often send fake invoices and delivery notifications appearing to be from Federal Express or UPS. Again, your information is stolen or malware is automatically installed on their computer when the "invoice" is opened.

Scam III: Social Networking - A Cybercriminal "Wants to be Your Friend"

Cybercriminals take advantage of this social time of the year by sending authentic-looking "New Friend Request" e-mails from social networking sites. These links actually install malware on your PC, often stealing your social network password along the way.

Scam IV: The Dangers of Holiday E-Cards

Many e-cards forwarded around during the holidays harbor all manner of malware.

Scam V: "Luxury" Holiday Jewelry Comes at a High Price

Sorry, that Gucci bag on deep discount isn't real. Order it and you receive nothing.

Scam VI: Practice Safe Holiday Shopping - Online Identity Theft on the Rise

It might be overkill, but McAfee tells users never to shop online from a public computer or on an open Wi-Fi network because you never know who's snooping.

Scam VII: Christmas Carol Lyrics Can Be Dangerous - Risky Holiday Searches

Can you believe that websites with lyrics for Christmas carols, as well as wallpaper and ringtones, can be festooned with malware?

Scam VIII: Out of Work - Job-Related E-mail Scams

With unemployment at record highs, expect work-at-home scams to be more common than ever right about now, along with the promise of jobs that simply don't exist... but which will happily take a "setup" fee to give you more information about them.

Scam IX: Outbidding for Crime - Auction Site Fraud

More deals too good to be true; auctions are always risky propositions.

Scam X: Password Stealing Scams

Once a crook hacks a single user account using off-the-shelf software, it's usually a simple matter to break down other accounts either because they have the same password or are linked to provide a new password via a recovery system.

Scam XI: E-Mail Banking Scams

Standard phishing attacks often in the guise of a warning that you'll be locked out of the account if you don't comply with some bogus instructions.

Scam XII: Your Files for Ransom - Ransomware Scams

A new scareware tactic encrypts your files and holds them ransom until you pay up to have them decrypted.

Protect yourself by keeping security software up to date and using common sense: Don't open attachments promising holiday cheer, even those sent by friends (they may have been infected without even knowing it), and don't click on or shop from strange web links.

1 in 3 laptops die in first three years

So your new laptop computer died in inside of a year. "I'll never buy a computer from [insert manufacturer name here] again!" I've heard the protests time and time again.

Yeah, maybe you got a lemon, but no matter which brand you bought, you truly are not alone in this situation: An analysis of 30,000 new laptops from SquareTrade, which provides aftermarket warranty coverage for electronics products, has found that in the first three years of ownership, nearly a third of laptops (31 percent) will fail.

That's actually better than I would have expected based on my experience and observations on how people treat their equipment.

SquareTrade has more detailed information (the full PDF of the company's study is available here) on the research on its website. But here are some highlights about how, why, and which laptops fail:

> 20.4 percent of failures are due to hardware malfunctions. 10.6 percent are due to drops, spills, or other accidental damage.

> Netbooks have a roughly 20 percent higher failure rate due to hardware malfunctions than standard laptops. The more you pay for your laptop, the less likely it is to fail in general (maybe because you're more careful with it?).

> The most reliable companies? A shocker: Toshiba and Asus, both with below a 16 percent failure rate due to hardware malfunction.

> The least reliable brands? Acer, Gateway, and HP. HP's hardware malfunction rate, the worst in SquareTrade's analysis, is a whopping 25.6 percent.

None of the numbers are overly surprising. As SquareTrade notes, "the typical laptop endures more use and abuse than nearly any other consumer electronic device (with the possible exception of cell phones)," so failures are really inevitable.

Want to keep your notebook running for longer than a few years? Ensure your laptop is as drop-proofed as possible (use a padded bag or case, route cords so they won't be tripped on, lock children in another room), and protect it as best you can from heat and dust.

Kobe playin' H-O-R-S-E, hits over-the-backboard shot

In the span of just two minutes, Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant(notes): (a) hit a shot from behind the backboard after being forced baseline by Thunder rookie James Harden(notes), (b) nailed a pretty up-and-under reverse layup, and (c) banked home a difficult runner — with his left hand — to beat the first quarter buzzer.




He will accept the My Little Pony/H-O-R-S-E trophy from inaugural winner Kevin Durant(notes), postgame.

Meeting the exceptional kid in an unintentional time

Time can never tell where are we now, how far have we gone passing through thicks and thins of life.

After a short interview at RG-Meditron somewhere in Quezon City, I came across to contemplate regarding the questionnaires we are asked to answer as part of the hiring process.

One question I have encountered include:

What is your vivid memory during your childhood?

And I answered, It was when I used to be on stage reaping some honors and awards without my parents clinging beside me. (Oh! Isn't it suck?)

More so, my childhood is a bitter one.
I have to spend more on household works or on farm instead of playing with my friends. (My old friends knows it but my latest friends won't believe me if they will know it.)

I have to put more focus on my notes rather than exchanging blabber mouths.

I cannot blame anyone.. But I believe, it puts me to where I am now..

I have never been a successful person today nor a rich individual but I know, I possess something more than what it anybody has it.

Going to my bording, is an exceptional kid who has extraordinary story to share.

Digging into his well-being, I can't but say no word than to salute more because I know, in the near future, he can do more than what he has done today.

Pacquiao VS Cotto

Unang Bagsak - Galicia Crew

Betterment of having a gmail account

Just want to share the advantage og Gmail over other email accounts such as yahoo, hotmail, eudormail, ymail, etc.


As has been experience for the previous years, gmail has the ability to receive mails quicker. What I mean is that there are some sites where you are required to register and confirm your registration through your email so as to secure authenticity of such account.

Email confirmations can be quickly viewed with your gmail account but with yahoo, you may need to wait, sometimes, a day before having such and in some manners, need to refresh said page not only twice but more than thrice.


LOL